From the Ashes
by LawliPop
Summary: A collection of short fanfics centered around Beyond Birthday and L. -Some BxL.-
1. ThirtyFour Percent

_Lawli: Just as it says in the summary, this is a collection of 100 short fanfics centered around Beyond Birthday and L. This is for the LJ community Fanfic100. I got the inspiration to sign up for this challenge after seeing that SunMoonAndSpoon was doing it (if you haven't checked out her collection about the Yagami family, go do so now! It's called 'Minutiae'. )_

_These prompts aren't in any particular order. I started with the prompt 'Light' in honor of Light's birthday (which was the 28th, if you didn't know)._

_Only 99 more to go after this! XD_

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**73 - Light**

The report Watari handed him silently on the morning of January 21st, 2004 read simply: _Beyond Birthday – heart attack. _After several minutes of staring at the neatly printed words, L lowered the report onto his desk, slowly, before shifting his focus to the young man sitting a mere six feet away.

Light glanced away from his computer monitor and caught L's gaze, offering one of those kindhearted smiles that L had trouble deciding whether or not were fake. L closed his teeth around the pad of his thumb and quickly looked away, a dozen new thoughts rushing through his mind – all related to one central theory.

_Thirty-four percent_.


	2. In the Beginning

_Lawli: Drabble number two! I don't know why it took me this long to get this out... I think I've just been taking up too much time by watching old seasons of LOST. Lol. Anyways! Please read and review. Sorry these stories are so short though, I'm trying to keep them all around 100 or so words. _

**1. Beginnings**

In the beginning, there was only darkness; blissful darkness, perfect darkness – darkness not unlike the beautiful black void of _his_ eyes. _His_. The one he would one day try to mimic and even strive surpass. L Lawliet. In the beginning, there was only darkness... but when the newborn baby who would later call himself Beyond Birthday (and be called many other names – Ryuuzaki Rue, B, Backup, the Los Angeles BB Serial Murderer) cracked open his eyes for the very first time, the comforting darkness faded away, leaving behind only a burning, screaming red. The child cried inconsolably, his undeveloped mind unable to comprehend the letters and numbers that seemed to float in the air. 


	3. Make a Wish Already!

_Lawli: This came to me during math class today. When I should have been focusing on how to calculate interest and mortgage payments, I was thinking of Beyond Birthday. Obsessed, much? ...Don't answer that. Please enjoy!_

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**91 – Birthday**

"_Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Backup! Happy Birthday to you!"_

Beyond Birthday couldn't help but cringe at the off-key singing of the children who surrounded him, all varying in age, though there was a small, lopsided smile on his face as they sang. He stared at the cake (vanilla with chocolate pudding filling and butter-cream icing, not his favorite but appreciated nonetheless), at the thirteen candles positioned so that they formed a perfect 'B' in the center of it. 

"Come on, make a wish already," one of the kids said.

Beyond thought a moment, his eyes searching the room – trying to locate someone who was not there; it did not take him long to realize what he wanted. 

_I wish he was here._

He leaned forward, extinguishing the candles with a single blow of air just as the door opened, someone whose face Beyond couldn't see through the crowd of other orphans making an announcement that would change his life forever.

"A is dead." 


	4. Numbers

_Lawli: More BB drabbles! I just can't get enough of him... _

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**3 – Ends.**

"Zero, zero, one, three, two zero. Zero, zero, one, three, one, nine. Zero, zero, one, three, one, eight. Zero, zero, one, three, one, seven. Zero, zero, one, three, one, six. Zero, zero, one, three, one, five. Zero, zero, one, three, one, four. Zero, zero, one, three, one, three. Zero, zero, one, three, one, two. Zero, zero, one, three, one, one. Zero, zero, one, three, one, zero..."

All morning he'd spoken nothing but numbers. He sat at the kitchen table with a case of markers to his left and sheets of paper scattered before him, all branded with the same numbers he mumbled. She didn't know what her son was doing, and she was too almost afraid to ask; she'd never known a six-year-old to behave in such a way, and to say it unnerved her was an understatement.

Beyond too a deep breath, switching to a blue marker, drawing an oval on the page. "Zero, zero, one, three –"

"Stop!" She cried, unable to contain her frustration. She took the marker from his hand and hurriedly placed the cap back on it.

"I have to count. I have to reach all zeros."

"Why?" she asked.

"I want to know when it happens," Beyond replied calmly, reaching for a purple marker since his mother still held onto the blue one.

"When what happens?" She was losing her patience now, watching as he began to jot down numbers once again, his lips moving in accordance with the words. She could practically hear him chanting in his head: _zero, zero, one, three, zero, seven; zero, zero, one, three, zero, six..._

"When dad's numbers end."

She didn't say anything further, unable to understand what he was talking about. Seeing this as only a child's overactive imagination and nothing more (wishing that he would do something _normal_, like go outside and kick the soccer ball around with all the other little boys) she stood up from the table and walked into the kitchen, leaving her son alone with his numbers wondering vaguely what he meant when he said that they would end.


	5. Eyes

_Lawli: Yes, finally a drabble that has yaoi hintings!! And implications of sex, oh me! :D_

**11 - Red.**

B's eyes are black as the starless night sky, and just as empty. They are unnerving, unsettling, and prone to making anyone subjected to their intense stare extremely uncomfortable – much like L's own eyes. B's eyes are black, but sometimes L wonders if that is their true color, or if it is just as fake as the rest of him. Because sometimes, in the throes of passion, when he takes a rare glance away from that pale, panting, perfect body that so closely resembles his own, L swears that B's eyes are not black, but red (the sort of red that can stop a person's heart, so beautiful and deadly).


	6. Letters

_**Lawli:** I really love writing these characters as children for some reason. _

_B is eight. L is twelve. Spelling errors WERE INTENTIONAL!_

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**25 - Strangers**

_Dear Mister L, _

_You don't know who I am, but I know who you are. Mister Watari didn't tell me a lot, but he did tell me that you cot the bad guy who hurt mommy, and that cause of you I get to stay at Wammy's House. I like it here, everyone is nice, but sometimes I feel lonely. Do you ever get lonely, mister L? Mister Watari says you live by yourself and don't get a lot of visiters. I think that's sad. Maybe one day when I'm older I can come visit you? I would like that a lot. Is your name really L? That's a weird name, but everyone has names like that at Wammy's, even me. I'm B, by the way. I used to be Beyond Birthday… mister Watari says I'm not supposed to tell anyone that, but I thought it would be okay to tell you cause you saved me. I'm giving this letter to mister Watari to give to you. Please write back to me._

_Sinserely, B._

_PS: Sorry I got jam on the paper. I tried to wipe it off but it stained._

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_Dear B, _

_There is no need to thank me. There is also no need to visit me. _

_L._


	7. Interrogations

_Lawli: Just a note to people who don't know, Light's name in Japanese can be read as 'tsuki' (moon/moonlight). It the scene where Misa first lays eyes on Light she calls him this in mistake, and only when she looks him up on the internet she realizes he pronounces his name Light. Beyond Birthday doesn't have the internet at his disposal, however, so he only sees Light's name as Tsuki and so that's why he refers to him as such._

_I know B and Light never met, but you never know.. they could have! What if B went to Japan before going to LA? He needed to get his plan to beat L from somewhere, after all! _

_This one's longer than the others. Yay_

_Please R&R! _

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**76 - Who?**

"Who's that?"

Beyond glanced up from the photograph in his hands, focusing instead to the left where a young boy stared up at him inquisitively. He looked no older than nine, with light brown hair that almost shone blonde in the bright sun and amber eyes that sparkled with curiosity and a strange intelligence that appeared out of place in someone so young, though Beyond did not think anything of it; he was used to seeing that glimmer in the eyes of almost every child at Wammy's, in his own eyes, so it was nothing special or unique to him – though it did remind him of L (which was also nothing new; practically everything he saw or heard reminded him of his genius detective and idol).

"Hell_-ooo_," the boy said, waving a hand in front of Beyond's face. "I'm talking to you."

Beyond curled a lip in irritation, easily able to tell now that this boy – Yagami Tsuki, the characters over his head spelled – was one of those children who was quite used to being the center of attention. He was probably a little prodigy, held on a pedestal by his family members and teachers, always talked about and complimented and fawned over as if he was something worth praising just because he could solve an equation more quickly than others – like L, like Beyond's replacements, Mello and Near.

"It's nothing," he said finally, running his index fingers across the wrinkled edges of the photograph, folding them almost nervously.

"He looks like you," the boy Tsuki observed, taking in the dark black hair and wide-set grey eyes of the child in the picture. "Is it your brother?"

Curling his toes over the edge of the park bench, Beyond scowled. "No," he answered quickly. "We're not related."

"Then why do you keep his picture?"

Beyond's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, wishing that Tsuki would just shut up and go away. "Your parents are probably looking for you..." his voice trailed off as he glanced pointedly at the boy, hoping that the intelligent sparkle in his brown eyes meant he was smart enough to take a hint as simple as that.

Tsuki frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, sticking his nose up arrogantly. "I'm twelve years old, I'm not a baby," he informed Beyond, sounding every bit as offended as his steely expression suggested.

Beyond rolled his eyes. "Well _excuse_ _me_. It's not my fault you look like you're seven."

Tsuki's cheeks turned a humiliating shade of red. "I-I do not," he said indignantly. "And you're avoiding the subject." He pointed at the photograph insistently. "Who is that?"

"It's none of your business." Beyond's voice had taken on a sharp edge to it, a clear indicator that he did not want to continue this discussion any longer. Carefully he folded up the picture and slid it into the back pocket of his oversized jeans.

"You're avoiding the subject. I want to know."

"I don't care what you want. You're just an annoying little kid, I don't have to tell you anything."

"Still avoiding the subject," Tsuki said, the fingers of his right hand tapping impatiently at his left upper arm.

Beyond sighed in exasperation. "What do you care?"

"I'm curious," Tsuki answered easily. "About you, more than the picture. You looked sad... but angry, and also something else at the same time; since you were looking at the picture I could only deduce that the person in the picture was the reason you felt that way."

Beyond almost snorted at the boy's prim way of speaking. "Deduce?" he quoted, "What are you, a little detective?" he asked.

Tsuki nodded his head. "I hope to be one day," he said, placing a hand against his chest proudly. "I'll be the greatest detective in the world. My dad's a detective – but I'll be even better than he is. I'll be the best in the world."

Beyond wanted to inform the poor boy that there was no chance in Hell of that ever happening, because poor Tsuki was in no way affiliated with Wammy's House and so had no way of ever becoming connected to L or Quillsh Wammy, andeither Near or Mello would most likely succeed L anyways, and if Beyond wasn't good enough to be L then no way was this little brat. Yagami Tsuki was nothing – a little twerp who thought he was special, who would accomplish nothing in his miserably short existence (Beyond took a sick amount of pleasure in reading Tsuki's relatively short life span).

"Sure you will," Beyond humored the boy.

"So what did he do to you?" Tsuki asked again.

Beyond glared at him harshly for a full minute, and Tsuki stared back coolly, undaunted. Finally Beyond gave in. "He didn't do anything," he admitted.

"So why do you hate him?"

"I don't hate him."

"Well you don't like him."

Beyond couldn't argue with that. Having never met the man in his life, he couldn't legitimately say that he hated L. But he didn't like L, he knew that without even having to lay eyes on him in person. Just having to live up to his reputation was more than enough to make Beyond dislike him. "No… I don't." Tsuki continued to stare at him expectantly, as if waiting for Beyond to elaborate. Beyond scratched the back of his neck. "He didn't do anything to me," he said, reverting to Tsuki's earlier question. "It's just... I wasn't good enough for him." Silently, to himself, he added, "I was only Backup," though he doubted the boy heard him.

Tsuki blinked slowly. "Why don't you make yourself?"

Beyond raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Make yourself good enough," Tsuki explained as if it was obvious. "Show him that you're good enough for him – no, that you're _better_ than him."

Both of Beyond's eyebrow now reached his hairline. He stared at Yagami Tsuki in wide-eyed amazement, suddenly seeing him as much more than just an annoying little brat. He could kiss the boy, he could. But he didn't want to go getting himself arrested – not when he had a new mission.

_Beat L... I could do that._


	8. Interrogations Part 2

_Lawli: This is sort of a continuation of the last one-shot. _

**77 – What?**

L was beyond surprised when Yagami Light, his first and only Kira suspect, approached him after the To-Oh University entrance exams ended. He'd stopped in his tracks after a hand fell heavily onto his left shoulder, staring wide-eyed at the teenager as he was forcibly turned around so they could stand face-to-face.

Light studied him, his brown eyes narrowed suspiciously in a way that made L wonder what was going through that far too intelligent mind of his.

"What?" L prompted, his own eyes becoming slits as he gazed coolly up at the other.

Light shook his head, his full lips twitching downwards slightly in a pretty, thoughtful frown. "Have we met before?" he asked. "You look so familiar."

L blinked slowly, confused by the question. Before the Kira investigation, L had never seen or heard of Yagami Light; he'd also never stepped foot inside Japan, so it was impossible for him to have ever come into contact with Light prior to the start of this case.

"No," he answered honestly, wondering as he spoke with Light if this was some kind of trap. It couldn't be; Light didn't know who he really was, after all. No one knew who he was; if anyone were to ask, L would reply that he was Hideki Ryuuga (_"yes, haha, I know, just like the actor!")_, a nineteen-year-old Japanese-American half breed from Osaka.

Light appeared crestfallen by the response, obviously not used to being wrong in his assumptions. The pretty frown on his face deepened, a crease appearing in the center of his forehead as his brows furrowed. Softly, he apologized, allowing his hand to fall from L's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I must have mistaken you for someone else."

L nodded in understanding, though he severely doubted that was true. He wasn't exactly the type of person who blended in with the crowd; he was awkward-looking and he knew that his face was one of those that stuck in a person's memory. If Light recognized him, then they really must have encountered each other in the past... That, or there was a rare chance that Light happened to meet someone who looked exactly like L.

Sucking in a deep breath, L's eyes grew a fraction larger as realization struck him.

The chance of Light meeting someone who looked exactly like L was very rare, but it was also possible considering that such a person did, in fact, exist.

"...Yes, you must have," L agreed.


	9. Do Not Understand

_Lawli: I tried to make L less of a jerk in this one... n.n;_

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**34 – Not Enough**

"I do not understand."

L pauses in his pursuit of dressing himself and spares a quick glance behind him at the fourteen-year-old who is sitting on the bed. Backup stares back at him, his grey eyes emptier than L has ever known them to be. He's still naked and does nothing to hide this fact; L wonders what happened to the shy boy he used to know, who was terrified to even show a bare limb in front of others – what happened to Beyond Birthday?

"What is there to not understand?" L finally asks, pulling his shirt over his head. His skin is sticky with dried sweat and other things he'd rather not think about. All he wants is to get out of the room and take a shower.

Backup doesn't say anything and L sighs. He doesn't want to explain himself. Backup should have known from the beginning that things would not always be this way. His name hints as much, after all; L specifically gave the boy the codename 'backup' so as not to give him false hope.

"You knew this would happen."

"I didn't. I didn't know. I thought... I thought I..." Backup closes his eyes and shakes his head. "I want to be you. L, I... all my life, that's been my goal. I've tried so hard to better myself, to make myself worthy of your title."

L glares at him. He hates when Backup talks like this, talks about his desire to become L, because that is not the Backup that he knows and cares about. He wasn't always this way; he never used to care about becoming L. He used to know that he was only the backup plan, should L fail. "I never once said that my title would be passed to you, B."

"But I'm smart enough," Backup says, moving so that he sits on his knees. He crawls to the edge of the bed and takes hold of L's shirt, twisting it in his fingers when L tries to shake him away. "I'm good enough, I know I am. I'm just as good as that new boy, I know I am – I'm better than him, L, I'm all you need!"

"Enough. Please, B, you're making this more difficult. I don't want things to be sore between us."

"B-but –"

"You were never meant to be L," L interrupts him. "Your name is _Backup_ for a reason."

Backup flinches, his hands releasing L's shirt suddenly. L stands up but does not turn around to look at him. He waits for Backup to say something, and when no words come he begins to make his way to the door. As he reaches the door, he stops with his hand on the knob to finally face Backup again.

"B... you can do better than this," he says. "This life, it isn't right for you. More than that, it's not what I want for you. You're brilliant and charming, and there are so many opportunities available to you that I want you to go after."

Backup is shaking his head, his lips moving though no sound escapes them. He grips the bed sheets tightly, his hands trembling along with the rest of his body. L doesn't know if he's going to cry or scream or just sit there silently; lately, Backup has become an impossible person to read.

"No." The word finally comes out.

"No... no... no, no, no, no, nononononono..."

"B," L tries to say, only to be cut off by a loud wail from the younger boy. He doesn't know what to do, doesn't know how to deal with this; he's never had to comfort anyone before, and this situation is especially difficult since he is the source of Backup's pain.

He ends up leaving the room in a shameful silence.

Nothing he could have said would have been enough.


	10. Runaway

_Lawli: Jumping back to B's early childhood yet again! It's just so fun... And I think this chapter especially is relateable. I mean, I know I've done this before. I really think we all have - or at least, we've all wanted to at some point. lol ;P_

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**90 – Home.**

A few months after he turns five, Beyond Birthday runs away from home because his mother tried to ground him for accidentally breaking the expensive vase in the living room. The screen door of the patio slams shut behind him and his feet fall heavily on the pavement as he races down the driveway.

"Beyond, get back here!" his mother is screaming.

Beyond stops on the sidewalk for the briefest of moments, yells, "I'm never coming back!" and then resumes running, occasionally glancing over to see if she is following him like he secretly wants her to; she isn't.

An hour and a half later Beyond is knocking on the front door, his eyes wet with tears and his teeth worrying his bottom lip as his tummy grumbles for a snack. His mother answers the door, her severe expression melting away as she notices the tears. Smiling, she wraps her arms around him and kisses him on the cheek.

"Welcome home."


End file.
